These are sites we use often in our work, and suggest you may find them useful too. They contain information on sustainable development, preservation, urban design, ecology, and many other topics. We've tried to include a short explanation of each to give you a sense of why we're making the suggestion.

Founded in 1972, the Trust for Public Land (TPL) is the only national non-profit working exclusively to protect land for human enjoyment and well-being. TPL helps conserve land for recreation and spiritual nourishment and to improve the health and quality of life of American communities.

TPL's works with landowners, government agencies, and community groups to: create urban parks, gardens, greenways, and riverways; to build livable communities by setting aside open space in the path of growth; to conserve land for watershed protection, scenic beauty, and close-to-home recreation; to safeguard the character of communities by preserving historic landmarks and landscapes. Natural Resources Defense Council | www.nrdc.orgThe Natural Resources Defense Council's purpose is to safeguard the Earth: its people, its plants and animals and the natural systems on which all life depends. They work to restore the integrity of the elements that sustain life -- air, land and water -- and to defend endangered natural places.

NRDC uses law, science, and the support of more than 400,000 members nationwide to protect the planet's wildlife and wild places and to ensure a safe and healthy environment for all living things. The National Trust for Historic Preservation | www.nationaltrust.orgThe National Trust for Historic Preservation provides leadership, education and advocacy to save America’s diverse historic places and revitalize our communities.

The Trust marked its 50th anniversary in 1999. Since its modest beginnings back in 1949, the Trust has become the private-sector leader of a vigorous and growing movement, with a staff numbering 300, an annual operating budget of $40 million, a nationwide network of regional offices, a collection of 20 historic sites, a loyal and dedicated membership numbering more than 250,000 people, as well as a wide range of programs, projects and services geared towards strengthening a sense of community and improving the quality of life.

Researchers known for exposing toxic chemicals in children's toys have turned their attention to home improvement products, finding ingredients in flooring and wallpaper that are linked to serious health problems. The nonprofit Ecology Center tested over 1,000 flooring samples and nearly 2,300 types of wallpaper for substances that have been linked to asthma, birth defects, learning disabilities, reproductive problems, liver toxicity and cancer. The results were released today on the easy-to-use consumer website – www.HealthyStuff.org – which also includes prior research on toys, pet products, cars, women's handbags, back-to-school products and children's car seats.

The Buckminster Fuller Challenge | www.challenge.bfi.orgThe Buckminster Fuller Institute announces the Call for Entries to the 2011 Buckminster Fuller Challenge, an annual $100,000 prize program to support the development and implementation of a solution that has significant potential to solve humanity's most pressing problems.

The Urban Land Institute (ULI) | www.uli.orgThe Urban Land Institute is a non-profit education and research institute that is supported and directed by its members. Its mission is to provide responsible leadership in the use of land organization. The Institute has long been recognized as one of Amerca's most respected and widely quoted sources of objective information on urban planning, growth and development.

The Enterprise Foundation | www.enterprisefoundation.orgThe Enterprise Foundation is a national non-profit housing and community development organization launched by Jim and Patty Rouse in 1982 to see that all low-income people in America have the opportunity for fit and affordable housing, and to move up and out of poverty into the mainstream of American life.

Congress for New Urbanism | www.cnu.orgThe Congress for the New Urbanism (CNU) is the leading organization promoting walkable, neighborhood-based development as an alternative to sprawl. CNU takes a proactive, multi-disciplinary approach to restoring our communities. Members are the life of the organization – they are the planners, developers, architects, engineers, public officials, investors, and community activists who create and influence our built environment, transforming growth patterns from the inside out. Whether it's bringing restorative plans to hurricane-battered communities in the Gulf Coast, turning dying malls into vibrant mixed-use neighborhoods, or reconnecting isolated public housing projects to the surrounding fabric, new urbanists are providing leadership in community building.

Project for Public Spaces | www.pps.orgPPS's staff is trained in environmental design, architecture, urban planning, urban geography, urban design, environmental psychology, landscape architecture, arts administration and information management. The staff also collaborates on projects with architecture, landscape architecture and engineering firms, graphic design firms, transportation consultants, retail planners and community organizations. All of our staff is committed to the cause of communities throughout the United States and abroad.

Smart Growth America | www.smartgrowthamerica.orgSmart Growth America is a coalition of national, state and local organizations working to improve the ways we plan and build the towns, cities and metro areas we call home. The coalition includes many of the best-known national organizations advocating on behalf of historic preservation, the environment, farmland and open space preservation, neighborhood revitalization and more. Our state- and regional-level members are community-based organizations working to save treasured landscapes while making our towns and cities ever more livable and lovable.

Wind Map | www.hint.fm/windAn invisible, ancient source of energy surrounds us—energy that powered the first explorations of the world, and that may be a key to the future. This map shows you the delicate tracery of wind flowing over the US.

The Rocky Mountain Institute | www.rmi.orgThe Rocky Mountain Institute is a nonprofit research and educational foundation with a vision across boundaries. Its mission is to foster the efficient and sustainable use of resources as a path to global security. The Institute creates -- and helps individuals and the private sector to practice -- new solutions to old problems, mainly by harnessing the problem-solving powers of market economics and of advanced techniques for resource efficiency.

Center for Neighborhood Technology | www.cnt.org Since 1978, Center for Neighborhood Technology (CNT) has been a leader in promoting urban sustainability—the more effective use of existing resources and community assets to improve the health of natural systems and the wealth of people, today and in the future.

CNT is a creative think-and-do tank that combines rigorous research with effective solutions. CNT works across disciplines and issues, including transportation and community development, energy, natural resources, and climate change.

Regional Plan Association | www.rpa.orgRPA is a New York/New Jersey /Connecticut tri-state metropolitan regional planning association. This site contains up-to-date RPA information, maps, the Executive Summary of the Third Regional Plan and a list of important upcoming events.

CULTURAL SITES OF INTEREST

The Brookings Institution | www.brookings.eduThe Brookings Institution is a non-profit public policy organization based in Washington, DC. Its mission is to conduct high-quality, independent research and, based on that research, to provide innovative, practical recommendations that advance three broad goals: Strengthen American democracy; Foster the economic and social welfare, security and opportunity of all Americans and Secure a more open, safe, prosperous and cooperative international system. Brookings is proud to be consistently ranked as the most influential, most quoted and most trusted think tank.

First Nations Development Institute | www.firstnations.comFirst Nations Development Institute was founded in 1980 to help tribes build sound, sustainable reservation economies. First Nations helps tribal members mobilize enterprises that are reform-minded, culturally suitable and economically do-able. Their strategy coordinates local grass roots projects with national program and policy development to build capacity for self-reliant reservation economies.

First Nations is helping to prepare a better future for Native Americans, and our understanding is part of their provision for getting from here to there. Please spend some time checking out their website – may it serve you well!

The Conservation Fund | www.conservationfund.org The Conservation Fund seeks sustainable conservation solutions for the 21st century, emphasizing the integration of economic and enviornmental goals. Throught real estate transactions, demonstration projects, education and community-based activities, the Fund seeks innovative, long-term meansures to conserve land and water. Since its inception, the Fund has forged partnerships to protect America’s irreplaceable outdoor heritage on a scale that far exceeds its size (10 years, 1.2 million acres saved) a tangible legacy for future generations.

International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) | www.isec.org.ukThe International Society for Ecology and Culture (ISEC) is a non-profit organization that promotes locally based alternatives to the global consumer culture. Their emphasis is on education for action: moving beyond single issues to look at the more fundamental influences that shape our lives. Some of their activities include: books, reports, conferences and films; local, national and international networking and community initiatives.

In addition to the Ladakh Project, a project that is protecting cultural and biological diversity on the Tibetan plateau, they run a Local Food Program, aimed at promoting closer links between producers and consumers, and Roots of Change, a program of community study for local action.

The Greyston Foundation | www.greyston.org Recognized as a pioneer in "social enterprise," Greyston uses entrepreneurship to solve the problems of the inner city and reduce the reliance of non-profits on external sources of funding. Greyston exists to help people visualize and realize paths to self-sufficiency. What distinguishes Greyston are its entrepreneurial culture and its spiritually rooted philosophy which combine community development and a commitment to human growth and potential.